Girl is third passenger to die in Asiana crash; runway reopens

An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crash-landed at San Francisco Airport on July 6, 2013. Three schoolgirls from China died and dozens others were injured. The plane was carrying 307 people.

Kate Mather

A girl injured when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash-landed in San Francisco died Friday morning, hospital officials said, marking the third fatality from the incident.

San Francisco General Hospital officials released few details, saying only that the girl had been listed in critical condition.

“Her parents have asked that we reveal no further information at this time,” a hospital statement said. “We will respect their wishes while they grieve.”

Coroner’s officials in San Francisco and San Mateo counties could not be reached Friday for more information.

The bodies of the two other victims, both 16-year-old girls, were recovered a week ago after the Boeing 777 clipped a sea wall and slammed into a runway at San Francisco International Airport.

Officials identified the victims as Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, both part of a group of Chinese high school students on their way to West Valley Christian Church and School in the San Fernando Valley for a three-week summer camp.

Authorities believe Wang – whose body was found about a mile away from the wreckage – was ejected from the jet when it first hit the ground and its tail severed. Three flight attendants were also thrown from the plane and suffered serious injuries.

Ye’s body was found close to the aircraft’s left wing. San Francisco police confirmed Friday that a fire truck responding to the incident hit her but stressed that the San Mateo County coroner had yet to determine her cause of death.

Gordon Shyy, public information officer for the San Francisco Police Department, said the girl was outside the jet and covered in fire retardant foam when the fire truck “went over her.”

San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said this week that fire officials immediately notified police – as well as the FBI and National Transportation Safety Board – when they learned Ye might have been struck. The drivers of all five trucks at the scene tested negative for drugs and alcohol, she added.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing

More than 180 people were hurt in the crash, officials said, ranging from broken bones and road rash to spinal cord injuries and internal bleeding. San Francisco General Hospital, which treated 67 patients, said Friday afternoon that six remained hospitalized, including two adults in critical condition. Stanford Hospital, which took in 55 people, said Friday that its final patient was listed in serious condition.

The NTSB is continuing its inquiry into the Asiana crash, which is expected to take months to complete.

Also on Friday, the runway closed at the airport because of the crash was reopened.